Battle of Saigon (1968)

The Battle of Saigon occurred from 30 January to 7 March 1968 during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War.

During the surprise communist offensive in January 1968, the Viet Cong launched 35 battalions to attack the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon. They planned to attack and capture the ARVN Joint General Staff Compound, the Independence Palace, the US embassy, Tan Son Nhut Air Base, the Long Binh Naval Headquarters, and the National Radio Station. Their assault broke through several ARVN and US defenses, and a Viet Cong squad even reached the steps of the Presidential Palace before being repelled by ARVN tanks and wiped out after holing up in a nearby building. Another squad seized South Vietnam's major radio station and attempted to broadcast a taped message from Ho Chi Minh which called for a nationwide uprising agianst the South Vietnamese government, but a US operator called the transmission tower and convinced them to play Vietnamese waltzes and Beatles songs instead. By early February, the communists had decided to halt their attacks on fortified positions in Saigon, and sporadic fighting continued until 8 March. While the communist attack had been repulsed, it demoralized the US public, which now believed that the US strategy in Vietnam was not working, and that the war was unwinnable. The US public also became disgusted with the South Vietnamese government due to Brigadier-General Nguyen Ngoc Loan's execution of Viet Cong prisoner Nguyen Van Lem, which was caught on camera by Eddie Adams.